ACLU Turns To Retreating Democrats over NSA

Posted on January 22, 2006

At a briefing held by House Democrats on Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union criticized the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretap program.

“The executive power of our country is not an imperial power,” said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. “Ours is a nation founded upon, and guided by, the rule of law. The president has demonstrated a dangerous disregard for our Constitution and our laws with his authorization for this illegal program. His continued approval of this warrantless spying places all of our freedoms at risk.”

Fredrickson appeared before a panel of Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee. Her appearance follows the filing of a lawsuit by the ACLU on January 17 against the NSA on behalf of a group of prominent journalists, nonprofits, terrorism experts and community advocates. The suit argues that the president’s program violates the First and Fourth Amendment and the separation of powers.

The Constitution gives the President the authority as Commander in Chief to protect our country against foreign agents. Nowhere in the 4th amendment can I find where it extends to terrorists overseas having conversations with their cohorts inside the U.S. It just isn’t there.

The ACLU may be disappointed with the response they get from Democrats. Flopping Aces points us to an article in the Washington Post that shows many democrats backtracking furiously on the issue.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. surveillance laws should be reviewed and possibly rewritten to allow the type of eavesdropping that U.S. President George W. Bush has been criticized for authorizing, lawmakers from both parties said on Sunday.

Democrats and some Republicans have said the Bush administration’s classified warrantless eavesdropping program is illegal. The White House has strongly defended the National Security Agency surveillance as both legal and essential. The Senate Judiciary Committee starts hearings on the issue on February 6.

The change of tone seems to be Osama.

An audio tape by Osama bin Laden that emerged last week threatening new attacks on the United States has heightened security concerns. Neither party can afford to be seen as failing to protect the country, particularly as corruption scandals and public questioning of the Iraq war loom over November’s congressional elections.

Lawmakers on several Sunday talk shows said that if the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) does not give Bush the tools and legal framework he needs to monitor potential threats, the president should ask Congress to change the law rather than bypass it.

While the Washington Post desperately tries to keep the impeachment meme alive, there is a definite change of tone here. The democrats are feeling the backlash of their relentless and uncalled for attacks on Bush, as many Americans view them as not caring about National Security. They are desperatley back peddling now that they see it as an issue that could effect them in election time negatively.

Flopping Aces sums it up well.

As the Osama tape has highlighted, they watch our media, they listen to the Democrats talking points, and they read the books of our lefties. What the left has done with this case has been a disgrace, from the moment a traitor gave this information to the media to this very day they have done nothing but dishonor every person who has served this country, every person who has died for this country, and every person who loves this country.

Yes, they are backtracking at a furious pace once again but not because they suddenly believe that the warrantless wiretaps are now necessary. They are running because they now know they will lose this one. Something else will come along. Probably another leaked story by a traitor, ahem “whistleblower”, will be put out there to see if it sticks, the consequences to our nations security be damned.

Heh, the dems can’t get a foot forward for all the spinning. Even Saturday Night Live takes a jab.
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Comments

2 Responses to “ACLU Turns To Retreating Democrats over NSA”

Peter Bella on January 23rd, 2006 12:28 pm

ACLU briefs House Democratic Panel? Did anyone from the “other side” brief them. The Justice Department, Homeland Security, the Intelligence Community? It appears that the Dems only want to hear one side of the issue.

I love our tax dollars at waste, err, work.
actus on January 23rd, 2006 6:17 pm

“Nowhere in the 4th amendment can I find where it extends to terrorists overseas having conversations with their cohorts inside the U.S. It just isn’t there.”

There isn’t just a fourth amendment issue, but also an Article I / Article II issue.